


The Mother Named C.C.

by beargirl1393



Category: The Nanny
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Related, Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-21 03:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beargirl1393/pseuds/beargirl1393
Summary: C.C. just wanted to have a quiet evening at home. Instead, her past comes knocking at her door and things won't be the same again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the first season, but is obviously going to vary a bit. So far I'm not sure how long this will be, but I've got seven chapters written and have plans that go up to the episode involving C.C.'s reunion, and probably past it. So...it's an AU, but some canon stuff does happen. I don't think it will take as long for these two to get together, however ;) As for the C.C./OMC tag, that happened in the past and is not going to be repeated. This is definitely going to end up with Niles/C.C. together, don't worry! This is my first Nanny fic, I've been working on it for awhile. As always, comments are definitely appreciated. Also, the title's a work in progress, if someone else has a better suggestion, I'm open to hearing it.

C.C. Babcock settled onto the sofa in her apartment and took a sip of her drink with a sigh of relief. Between the annoying nanny, the idiot actors that she had to work with because Maxwell could never be bothered with that side of the business, and the dismal results of her most recent date, she was, for once, looking forward to spending an evening alone. She would have her drink, order something in as she hadn’t felt like staying at the Sheffield house for dinner, and perhaps play with Chester. He had needed time to get attached to her, unlike how easily he had bonded with Nanny Fine, but at least he was less snappish around her now.

Of course, C.C. thought bitterly, everyone loved Nanny Fine. The children adored her, Maxwell was clearly smitten, or at least interested in her…she seemed to make friends so easily, to make people like her so easily, C.C marveled at it. All her life, she had needed to fight for everything she’d gotten. Charming people was a skill she had needed to learn to succeed in show business, and she did well enough making ‘friends’ with other rich women just as shallow and self-centered as she herself was, but she had never been good at making people really like her. The title ‘the Bitch of Broadway’ had been honestly earned, after all, and even if she had grumbled about it at the time, she couldn’t deny that it did fit.

Thoughts like that were the reason that she drank as much as she did, C.C. mused, getting up to refill her glass. It was a coping habit that she had picked up from her father, one that she had never been able to shake. Alcohol dulled the pain of her loneliness, made her forget about her estranged family and her desperate bids for Maxwell’s attention.

It was while C.C. was fixing her drink that she heard a knock at the door, causing her musing expression to be replaced by one of complete confusion. Who would be visiting her? She didn’t have a partner, none of her family visited and even if they did, they would call ahead. None of her neighbors bothered her, they had learned that she didn’t have the patience for small talk with them and she wouldn’t loan them anything if they ran out or just didn’t have what they needed for some reason.

In short, there shouldn’t be anyone knocking on her door, especially this late at night, and yet, as the sound came again, someone clearly was.

Grumbling to herself, C.C. put down the bottle of bourbon and her glass, going to the door. If it was a door to door salesman who had somehow gotten past the doorman, she would give them the rough edge of her tongue. Then again, tearing them apart with sarcastic comments would be entertaining, so perhaps she should hope that it was a salesman. Even shouting at one of her annoying neighbors would be a momentary reprieve.

With that in mind, C.C. flung open the door…and froze when, instead of an adult that she could freely yell at, there was a little blonde girl standing on her doorstep. The child’s eyes were green, wide and innocent as she looked up at C.C., and if she were a different kind of woman, she would have found the child adorable. As it was, she scowled and said, “If you’re selling cookies, kid, you knocked on the _wrong_ door. Same goes for magazines.” Because god knows what clubs had kids selling these days, it could be anything.

“Are you C.C. Babcock?” the girl asked, apparently deciding to ignore the previous comment. “I have to find her.”

“Are you a child actor or something? Got a parent hiding out nearby while you audition? We’re not putting on any plays with kids again for a long time if I have anything to say about it.” Because those Annie 2 auditions had been traumatizing enough, she wasn’t in any hurry to repeat the process. Considering that Maxwell hadn’t pushed for any plays with children in them recently, she thought he felt the same way. And, really, if the kid's parents were desperate enough to put her on C.C.’s doorstep like this, she didn’t think the kid had any talent.

“No, I don’t think so,” the girl said, frowning as she looked up at C.C. “My daddy said that I had to knock on your door and give you this and then he’d be back for me later.” The girl bent and started rummaging in the bag near her feet that C.C. had just noticed. There were two others off to the side, and she was starting to get a bad feeling about all of this. The girl stood back up and held out an envelope before C.C. could say anything about it, though.

Her name was on the outside of the envelope. Her real name, Chastity-Claire Babcock, and so the bad feeling grew. “Um…you should come inside. Your…daddy will probably be back for you soon.” Although really, she was starting to doubt that was going to happen. No sane person would leave their child with C.C. of all people, not if they were intending to come back for the kid.

Although, she had to give the girl this, she picked up her bags and followed her into the flat without saying another word. She did let out a soft breath when she saw Chester, however, and immediately ran over to play with him.

C.C. watched them for a moment, but the kid seemed absorbed and Chester wasn’t growling, so she let them alone and settled in the chair. It only took a moment to open the envelope, and she pulled out the letter inside impatiently. She wanted to know who had left this kid here, and when they’d be coming back.

 _Chastity-Claire,_ it started, and oh yes, the bad feeling was getting overwhelming.

_I know this must be something of a shock. When we went our separate ways, ten years ago now, we had an agreement. I would keep our daughter so that you could focus on your career, while you would discreetly send child support for her every so often._

_Up until now, I have kept to my promise. She has been fed fine food, clothed in the latest fashions, sent to the finest schools and raised by the best nannies that money can buy. She seems to be happy with her life, albeit lonely, from the reports that the staff have given me, but she is at the top of her class and a talented rider, dancer, and piano player, as is fitting of a young lady of her standing._

_Recently, however, I married a suitable woman from my class and she has decided that the only children she wants our nannies to tend to are our children, when we have them, and after a long discussion we decided that it would be best to relinquish custody. If you wish to care for Cassandra, the papers necessary to file for sole custody are in her bag. If you wish to relinquish custody entirely so that another can raise her, the papers for that are also in her bag._

_I ensured that the servants packed enough clothes for two weeks, as well as various books and other things that she amuses herself with in her spare time when she isn’t in lessons. Her medical records, birth certificate, and all other documentation that you would need for her are in her bag as well. As she has yet to see the contents of any of the bags save her backpack which she packed herself, she believes this is merely a chance to meet her mother. How you proceed is your decision. If you decide to keep her, have Cassandra write and I will send the rest of her belongings._

_If she starts to wail, remind her that she is a lady and ladies do not have such bad manners as to cause such a fuss in front of others._

_Regards,_

_Gerald Delaney Hunt II_


	2. Chapter 2

Gerald Delaney Hunt the Second. C.C. remembered that name, quite well despite the time that had passed. They had dated in college, although she had managed to keep it from Maxwell and Sara. When they graduated, however, they went their separate ways with little fuss, and so C.C. hadn’t even thought of Gerald again until ten years ago, when he had come to town on business. He was in town for two weeks, and they spent most nights together. Once his trip was over, he left and C.C hadn’t thought anything of it, just briefly mourning the loss of fantastic sex and then moving on with her life.

Until she had gotten sick, and had nearly shouted at her doctor when she was told that she was pregnant. A frantic phone call to Gerald had ensued, and he had made time to come to town again. His mother was on his case about needing grandchildren, so he was rather against her discreetly ‘taking care’ of the problem. C.C. didn’t want to put her life on hold, she was finally doing something she enjoyed, so they worked out a deal.

C.C would go away for a year to take care of an aging relative, to assure herself of being named in the will. In reality, she would be going to her grandmother’s house in the country, which had been left to her when her grandmother died. After she had the child and healed, she would give the baby to Gerald and go back to her life in New York.

Maxwell had bought the excuse hook, line, and sinker, and to this day none of the Sheffields knew that she had a daughter four years older than the Little One, and two years younger than the Boy. That was how she wanted it, and although she had discreetly sent money to Gerald for the girl’s care every few months, she had tried to put the whole matter out of her mind.

Until today. Until her daughter, who she hadn’t seen since she was three months old, showed up on her doorstep with a few bags and a letter from her father that showed that Gerald apparently was as good of a parent to Cassandra as Stuart and B.B. Babcock were to C.C. herself.

 _He dropped her off like she was a package, something able to be returned if it wasn’t what he wanted. I wonder if, given the chance, would my parents have done the same thing?_ Those thoughts weren’t helping any, and C.C. shook her head, looking over at the bottle of bourbon and her glass wistfully. She hadn’t had nearly enough to drink for this, but drinking in front of children was supposed to be bad, wasn’t it?

Cassandra had apparently noticed the direction of her gaze, and stopped playing with Chester to go over and pick up the bottle. “Do you want a drink?

Apparently, someone else hadn’t had the same scruples. Granted, C.C. drank around Maxwell’s children, but none of the three of them paid any attention to her so she didn’t think that it mattered. Besides, they weren’t genetically pre-disposed to alcoholism like any kid of C.C.’s would be. “No,” she said finally, when it looked like the girl was just going to start pouring and bring the glass over if C.C. didn’t say something. “Play with the dog, I have to make a call.”

Her tone was slightly harsh, but it didn’t seem to faze Cassandra as she headed back to the couch to play with Chester again. Another sign that her father, and possibly step-mother, weren’t ideal parents.

Still, at least it meant that the kid was quiet, so C.C. decided to just go with it and headed into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. As much as she’d hate to admit it, she didn’t know anything about children, even her ideas about what not to do were sketchy, and she needed to call in the help of someone who did. She didn’t have friends, and she rarely contacted her family for good reason, so there was really only one person that she could call.

The phone rang several times before it was picked up, and she was grateful when she heard a tired British voice on the other end. Good, the nosy nanny hadn’t gotten to the phone first.

“Niles,” C.C. said, cutting off anything after the first ‘hello’. “I need your help. You need to come over to my apartment now.”

“Babcock? What happened, did your date put a rock on your coffin?”

Normally, she would have had a smart retort, she loved trading zingers back and forth with Niles, especially when she was the one winning, but now wasn’t the time. “Niles, this is serious. I need you to get over here, now. I’ll let the doorman know to expect you, so you can come straight up.”

“Ms. Babcock,” Niles said, cutting into what was dangerously close to becoming babbling. “What on Earth happened? You sound as though you’ve seen…well, your reflection.” There was something close to concern in his voice, and C.C. wondered if she sounded as hysterical as she felt.

“Just get over here and I’ll explain it, Rochester,” C.C. snapped. “And if you tell anyone at the mansion where you’re going, I’ll fix you like I fixed Chester.” She had used that line before, but she didn’t care about coming up with fresh material at the moment. Her daughter was sitting in the sitting room, playing with her dog and completely unaware that her father had abandoned her. To top it all off, he had abandoned her simply because his wife didn’t like her.

How was she supposed to say something like that to a kid? Let alone to her kid? She knew nothing about this girl other than what Gerald had told her in the letter. And now she had to figure out what to do with the kid, and quickly too. No point in letting her get attached if she wasn’t staying. Then again, what child would attach themselves to her? The very idea was ludicrous.

She had been thinking for longer than she’d realized, and Niles’ voice startled her. “Fine, witch. If you were polite, you would at least pick me up on your broom. Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be there. This had better be good.”

He didn’t give her time to say anything else, hanging up abruptly, but that was perfectly fine with C.C. The sooner he got off the phone, the sooner he would get here. That meant she still had twenty minutes to kill, however. What was she going to do with this kid for twenty minutes?

Maybe she should’ve let the girl mix her a drink.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention this before, but until we're caught up to what I've already written (I've got seven chapters total right now), I'll update every other day. Once I reach the end of what I've already written, chapters will be posted as soon as they're finished.

In the twenty minutes it took for Niles to arrive, C.C. had paced in her bedroom, tried to figure out where to put a child for the night, went back into the living room to make sure Chester was playing nice, and headed into the kitchen to see if she had anything remotely edible. The only things in the refrigerator were juice and several old cartons of take out. She’d never pretended that she was a good cook, after all, there was a reason that she ate so many of her meals at the mansion despite Niles’ comments and the annoying nanny.

It wasn’t too late, she could order something, but what would the girl like? If she wanted to know, she’d have to talk to her, and C.C. was hoping to put that off for a little while longer. She knew that if she started talking to Cassandra, she would end up accidentally revealing that Gerald had abandoned her completely, and she wasn’t prepared to deal with the tears and whatever else would result from that. Niles seemed good at comforting distraught children, he had been their primary caregiver, even when Maxwell had hired nannies, before Nanny Fine had arrived. Even now, he did quite a lot for the children, so he should know what to do now.

C.C. nearly ran to the door when she heard the knock, controlling herself before she opened it. In case it was Gerald, she wanted to look imposing when she shouted at him, not desperate. It was a relief, therefore, to see Niles, slightly grumpy from having been pulled away from his duties but there nonetheless.

“Well, I’m here, Babcock, this had better be important. I still have dishes to wash and cleaning to…” Niles trailed off, irritation being replaced by shock, and C.C. chanced a look over her shoulder.

Cassandra had moved closer when the door opened, and was standing well within Niles’ line of sight, holding Chester. That dog might be the best thing that Maxwell had ever gotten her, C.C. thought, moving to pick up his leash and passing it to Cassandra.

“Take him out for a walk, come back after he’s done his business,” C.C. said, turning when she heard a shocked ‘no’ from Niles.

“Ms. Babcock, are you insane? You propose to allow a child to walk the streets in New York City at night?” Niles asked, arching an eyebrow.

And, yes, that was likely something C.C. should have known was a bad idea, but she shook off her embarrassment and headed for her purse. Fishing out a fifty, she passed it to Cassandra. “Give that to the doorman, he’ll take you both around the block until Chester does his business. Come back up once he’s done.”

“Do her parents know that you’re having a doorman watch her?” Niles asked, watching as the girl attached the leash to Chester’s collar and left without a word. Perhaps she was shy? “Why do you have a child? Steal one to use in a youth potion?”

C.C. rolled her eyes, grabbing Niles’ sleeve and dragging him into her apartment. She shut the door and headed over to where she’d dropped the letter when she heard the knock. “Her father left her here with two bags, a backpack, and a delusion that he’s coming back to get her. And her mother just sent her down to bother the doorman.”

Niles blinked, looking between C.C. and the letter in his hand before starting to read, clearly deciding to ask his questions afterwards. He read quickly, and she vaguely remembered Maxwell mentioning once that Niles had graduated from Oxford. And yet, he was still a butler.

Her musings were cut off when he looked up and she could see the anger in his eyes.

“This…man, and I use the term loosely, decided to abandon his child on your doorstep because his wife dislikes her? And you haven’t seen the child since she was an infant?”

“She was three months old, when I saw her last,” C.C. admitted. Her eyes were just starting to shift to green, and she had a few wisps of blonde hair. She had been babbling nonstop, making serious efforts towards rolling over, and had generally been very active. Now, she was silent and still, even while playing with the dog. C.C. wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Gerald had done to turn her into a shadow. Unless the girl was shy, and just hadn’t warmed up to them yet?

“And what, she clashed with the drapes so you decided to send her off?” Niles asked sarcastically, and C.C smirked despite herself.

“No, she matched the décor perfectly,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But honestly, Niles, do you remember where I was ten years ago?”

“Yes, the same place you are now.”

That stung, mostly because it’s true. “I started out as Maxwell’s assistant. He promoted me to partner after my first backer’s party when I was able to charm triple the money out of the investors as he and Sara had managed. I worked hard to get where I am, making contacts and making a name for myself.”

“As the Bitch of Broadway,” Niles said, dry as dust, and C.C. shrugged.

“They know me, don’t they?” she retorted, and Niles had to agree with that. “I couldn’t have done all of this while trying to change diapers and sort out custody. The battle with my lawyers and his would have gone on for quite some time, especially if his mother had kept up the pressure for him to have children. My sole demand was that her last name remain Babcock, and he said that would be the case, unless he passed without any other heirs and then she would be obligated to change her name before she would be able to claim her inheritance.”

“You gave up, Babcock,” Niles said, shaking his head. “In all the years that you have worked with Mr. Sheffield, I have never known you to run from a challenge. Even when sane men would flee, you keep on. You’ve been chasing Mr. Sheffield since his wife died, even when he has paid absolutely no attention to you, you’ve clawed out a name for yourself in the company that he founded and made yourself indispensable to him…but despite all of that, you gave up that girl to someone who cared nothing for her, who neglected her.”

“He didn’t-” C.C. started, but she stopped at Niles’ look.

“Let’s look at what he said,” Niles said, holding up the letter. “Let’s see…‘raised by the best nannies’, ‘She seems to be happy with her life, albeit lonely, from the reports that the staff have given me’, ‘If she starts to wail, remind her that she is a lady and ladies do not have such bad manners as to cause such a fuss in front of others’…do I need to continue?”

“Okay, fine, I made a mistake,” C.C. admitted. “Not giving her up, but giving her to Gerald. I should have found someone better, someone who would’ve taken care of her.”

“Is that what you’re going to do now?” Niles asked, curious despite himself. “Are you going to find a suitable family to take her in?”

C.C. wanted to say yes, to go back to her fairly uncomplicated life, but she couldn’t. “I don’t know.” The girl had already been through so much, she was going to be told that her father didn’t want her. Should she add to it and admit that she didn’t want her either? That she was being shipped off somewhere else because C.C. didn’t want to deal with her.

Niles watched her for a moment, then turned and headed for the kitchen. “First things first, we will see if there is anything edible, the child is likely hungry by now. Then, when she brings the dog back, you can talk to her.”

“There’s nothing in the kitchen but juice, and maybe a box of crackers,” C.C. said, but she followed Niles anyway. At least she wasn’t dealing with this all alone, she had someone to help her. Even if that ‘someone’ was Niles.


	4. Chapter 4

Niles and C.C. spent the time until Cassandra came back rummaging through C.C.’s refrigerator and cupboards. The takeout was thrown away unceremoniously (‘I’d let you get food poisoning by eating that, Babcock, but the child hasn’t done anything to deserve that’), the juice was left alone, and the crackers were both found and pronounced stale and thus joined the takeout in the garbage.

 “It’s a miracle that you can fit through the door, if you eat like that nightly,” Niles said, gesturing to the garbage can where the takeout cartons took up nearly all of the room in the bag.

“I can’t cook, it’s why I eat at the mansion so often,” C.C said, shrugging. She wouldn’t be able to do that as often if Cassandra stayed with her, it would be rude to presume that Maxwell wouldn’t mind if both of them stayed. Maybe the kid could cook? Gerald hadn’t listed on her list of skills, but then again, it didn’t seem like he knew much about her. She supposed that would work for a while, but expecting that the girl would cook for them both every night likely wasn’t a good idea. Better than poisoning her with whatever C.C. tried to cook, however.

She heard the door open, clearly Cassandra returning with Chester, so she left Niles in the kitchen muttering about where he could get proper ingredients at this time of night and why blonde heiresses never seem to be able to feed themselves properly.

Cassandra set Chester down on the floor once she’d taken his leash off, looking up when the blonde woman came back into the main room. C.C. Babcock, part of Sheffield Productions. Her mother, Chastity-Claire Babcock, who she had never met. There weren’t any pictures of her at her father’s home, and he didn’t talk about her much. Cassandra had only really been told three things about her mother. Her name, her occupation, and why she never visited but sent money regularly.

She had dreamed about meeting her mother for years, but now that she did, she didn’t know what to say. What if her mother didn’t like her? Her father already didn’t seem to care much about her one way or the other, he never had, and she had always hoped that her mother would be different. C.C. Babcock had stood for all of her dreams of a family, someone who would love her even if she hated piano lessons or would rather spend time with her than with a nanny or tutor. Someone who would look at her and see her, instead of just looking straight through her. What if she was wrong, and her mother was nothing like that?

“Chester went to the bathroom,” she ventured after a moment. “And the doorman asked me to tell you that he isn’t a babysitter or a dog walker.”

C.C. waved that off, the man always said he wasn’t a dog walker and yet he kept walking Chester for her at night as long as she paid him. “Thank you,” she said, awkwardly because thanking people wasn’t really something she was used to. “Let’s…let’s sit down. We need to talk.” That was the understatement of the year, really, but Cassandra seemed to agree as she settled on the couch again. After a moment’s hesitation, C.C. sat beside her.

Okay, how to start? “How much has your father told you about me?” Might as well see what the kid knows, and go from there.

“Your name is Chastity-Claire Babcock, although you like to be called C.C. You work on Broadway, as part of Sheffield Productions. And you let him raise me because he needed an heir and you didn’t want to put your career on hold and were worried that you would need to if you kept me yourself.”

Well, that was a fairly apt, if short, summary of her, but C.C. wondered why that was all she knew. Had she not asked for any more information? Or had Gerald not told her anything else? “That’s true. I worked very hard to get where I am, and I worried that you would be neglected if I kept you.” Well, that was almost true, she had thought about the girl being neglected, but she had been more concerned with her career. “Did your father say when he would be coming back?”

Cassandra shook her head, smiling hesitantly as she looked at C.C. “No. He just said that this was a chance for me to meet my mother, and that he’d asked the servants to pack enough clothes so that I could visit for as long as you wanted.”

The kid looked so happy at that…what child in their right mind would look that happy about spending days in her company? C.C. shook her head, sighing and deciding to get right to the heart of the matter. “Cassandra…your father isn’t coming back for you.” Briefly, she wondered if she should show the girl the letter, but she thought that might just make it worse.

“What?” For her part, Cassandra was entirely confused. Her father had said she was just visiting with her mother, and that he’d be back to pick her up later…what had happened?

C.C. briefly cursed Gerald, but didn’t have time to give into the whole mental tirade she wanted to because the kid had gone from ‘happy’ to ‘confused’ and C.C. was sure that she would be moving on to ‘heartbroken’ in record time. “He said that your stepmother doesn’t want any children but their own in the house, and that he agrees with her, so he sent you to me.” She was going to leave out the fact that she might not be keeping her either. Might as well give this a trial period, see if it worked out.

Her stepmother. That explained a lot, actually, she knew the woman hated her. Pairing that hate with her father’s customary indifference…yes, Cassandra could see, quite easily, how she had been foisted off on her mother because of it. “I’m sorry that they didn’t warn you. It must have been a surprise.”

No tears? No dramatic scene where the girl wails about her father abandoning her with a woman she doesn’t know while the nosy butler looks on from the kitchen? Cassandra looked sad, but not heartbroken like C.C. had expected. “You don’t seem all that torn up about this.”

Cassandra shrugged. “I never see them anyway. Daddy’s always working, and my step-mother is usually shopping, going to parties, or throwing parties. If they’re not doing that, they’re going off on a vacation together. This week was the most time that I ever spent with Daddy all at once. Guess I know why.” He wanted to make sure she was doing well in her lessons and knew how to be a proper young lady before her mother met her.

Well, when the kid put it that way, C.C. couldn’t really blame her. “Let’s go see what Niles is doing in the kitchen, maybe he’s found a way to make what little is in there edible,” she suggested. The less they talked about this, the better C.C. would feel. She didn’t like to talk about emotional problems. Apparently Cassandra felt the same, since that was the only prompting she needed to get up and head for the kitchen.

They definitely were related.


	5. Chapter 5

While C.C. and Cassandra had talked, Niles had been busy.

He had called someone, C.C. didn’t know who, and food was delivered along with pillows and blankets to turn the sofa into a bed for the night. “A friend of mine who is also a domestic,” was all Niles would say, although he promised that it wasn’t Nanny Fine, which C.C. could accept.

Watching Niles with Cassandra was odd. The butler was just…comfortable, unlike C.C. He had Cassandra helping him cook and was teaching her various things while they went. From the beaming smile on the girl’s face, C.C. wondered how often anyone bothered to teach her things, or even just talk to her.

Dinner was pizza, Niles teaching Cassandra how to make the dough and roll it out, then letting her add toppings after he’d added the sauce. Cassandra had hung on his every word, and that made Niles thoughts run in a similar vein to C.C.’s. Did no one, even the servants, ever talk to the girl? Ever teach her something when she was clearly interested? From how raptly she was paying attention now, and how she seemed a bit afraid that the lesson would stop at any time, he didn’t think they had.

C.C. sent Cassandra to get a bath once dinner was over, watching Niles clear up. “Thank you.” Normally, she wouldn’t thank him for anything, it wasn’t part of their relationship, but he had helped a lot tonight. She didn’t know what she would have done with Cassandra without him, she was still trying to find a way to deal with her that wouldn’t end in tears from either of them. Things were going well so far, but part of her hoped that Niles wouldn’t leave until after the girl was asleep.

“This won’t work forever, Ms. Babcock,” Niles said, drying the last newly washed dish and putting it in the cupboard. “A sofa is an acceptable substitute for a few nights, but she really should have her own room.” And, in a one bedroom penthouse apartment, that would be difficult.

“I know,” C.C. admitted. “I’ve been thinking about the same thing. If…if she stays, I’m going to have to find a new apartment.” She wasn’t really attached to this place, she spent very little time here. It was what moving would represent. If she started looking for a new apartment, she would be admitting that she was keeping Cassandra. She would have a responsibility to the girl, she would have to be a parent. At the moment, she wasn’t sure that she could do it.

“Might I propose a truce?” Niles suggested. “Whenever the child is in the room, or we are speaking about her, we will keep our usual snarking to a minimum.” He enjoyed trading zingers back and forth with C.C., it was part of their relationship, but it might be confusing to the girl. So, until Cassandra was either settled in or with a new family, a truce would be for the best.

“I agree,” C.C. said, nodding. If Niles wasn’t there to insult her, and she wasn’t able to insult him, she didn’t know what she’d do with herself. But, she also knew that Cassandra had likely never seen anything like that before, and she would think that they hated each other. The truth was a lot more complicated than that, so it was best to ease the girl into all of this.

“I need to head back to the house,” Niles said, faintly apologetic as he moved to get his coat. “There’s still the kitchen to clean and dishes to wash. The children and Ms. Fine will be sneaking down for ice cream soon, and I will need to tend to those dishes as well.”

“Go,” C.C. said, waving him off. She could handle Cassandra until the girl went to bed, couldn’t she?

As the butler left, C.C. hoped that she was right about that.

* * *

 

Things were slightly awkward, at least on C.C.’s end, but the night passed easily enough. The next morning, while the girl was getting ready, C.C. started to make a list of things she would need to do if she did keep Cassandra.

_To Do List_

_*Search for a new apartment._

_*Find a suitable private school._

_*Hire a nanny?_

_*Hire a cook?_

_*Send for the rest of Cassandra’s belongings._

That seemed like enough to be getting on with for the moment. She could think about hiring help after she saw how the two of them got along. After all, the child would have lunch at school, so all she would really need to worry about was breakfast and dinner. And as for a nanny…as fond as she had been of Nanny Bobo, she didn’t think that Cassandra had such fond memories of her own nannies. It wasn’t as though Cassandra couldn’t come to the Sheffields’ with her, or to the theatre.

Once Cassandra was presentable, at least Gerald hadn’t lied about the quality of her clothing, C.C. picked up her briefcase and handed Chester’s leash to Cassandra. She had gotten ready first, it took her longer than it took the girl to do the same, so all she needed to do was check her makeup in the mirror near the door before leading Cassandra out.

“We’ll stop for breakfast on the way, there is a café nearby that allows dogs,” C.C. said, leading the way to the elevator. “Later, I will need to find a school for you to attend, but for today you can come to work with me. I will be handling paperwork today, but Maxwell does have three children.” They might have school today, though, she wasn’t sure.

“I brought my books and things,” Cassandra said, tapping the strap of her backpack. It was an elegant leather bag, apparently Gerald really had been putting all the money C.C. sent into the girl, rather than spending it on himself. “So I can keep myself occupied and stay out of your way.” She was used to doing that, keeping herself occupied so that she didn’t bother anybody.

Well, that gave a better picture of how lonely the girl’s life had been. C.C. remembered how her own life had been at that age, Nanny Bobo gone because she was old enough to go to school and no friends to speak of. The other servants wouldn’t take time out of their schedules to play with her, they didn’t want to risk not getting their duties performed satisfactorily, so she had learned how to entertain herself.

Maybe it was that memory that prompted C.C. to offer, “At lunch, we can go to the park. There are any number of places we could purchase food, and Chester would like the exercise.” What she would do in the park, C.C. didn’t know, but the look on Cassandra’s face was worth whatever would happen.


	6. Chapter 6

Breakfast passed fairly quickly, despite residual awkwardness. C.C. was still learning about Cassandra and, really, at this time of the morning, her attention was already mostly on work. Cassandra either didn’t notice or didn’t mind, eating her food neatly and occasionally sneaking a bite down for Chester. C.C. thanked whoever had taught the girl proper table manners, she would’ve needed to add that to her to do list as well otherwise.

They arrived at the Sheffields just as breakfast was almost over, which was perfect in C.C.’s opinion. All of them were there, so she could get the big reveal over and done with all at once.

“Hello, hello,” she said, breezing into the dining room. “Maxwell, I hope you don’t mind me bringing Chester today. Cassandra adores him, so I thought letting her care for him today would be better than sending him to the kennel.” She normally took Chester to a kennel when she was working, dropping him off in the morning and picking him up after work. He was fed, played with, and walked, which was more than she would have time for if he was with her during the day.

The expressions on all of their faces were amusing. The nanny’s jaw nearly hit the table, and the big one looked the same. The boy looked horrified, although the little one just seemed interested. Maxwell just looked stunned. Niles, C.C. noticed, had turned around as though he was starting to tidy up. Really, she thought he was just doing it to keep from laughing, something that C.C. was struggling with as well.

“C.C., I wasn’t aware that you had a…niece?” Maxwell ventured, looking at the girl standing calmly beside his business partner. She looked a lot like he imagined C.C. would have looked as a child, aside from the color of her eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Maxwell, D.D. despises children,” C.C. said, barely holding back a snort. D.D. as a mother was one of the funniest things she’d ever heard. “This is my daughter, Cassandra.”

The nanny started choking at that, while the big one looked just as horrified as her brother. While Niles and Maxwell were tending to the nanny, the little one said, “I didn’t know you had a daughter, Ms. Babcock.”

“I lived with my father for the past decade,” Cassandra said, giving the other girl a hesitant smile. “But my mother wanted me to stay with her now.”

That seemed to at least appease the little one, who invited Cassandra to sit near her so they could talk, but she knew that Maxwell would need more than that. “I’ll be in the office, Maxwell. Cassandra, if you need anything, ask Niles and he’ll show you how to find me.”

“Okay Mummy,” Cassandra said, looking up with a smile before going back to her conversation with Grace. Doing that meant that she missed the look of shock on C.C.’s face, and the woman left the room shortly after that.

C.C. hadn’t thought about it much, but if she did take in Cassandra, she supposed that she would need to get used to that. Despite her preoccupation, C.C. wasn’t surprised to find Maxwell right behind her, shutting the office door and unplugging the intercom. Good, the nosy nanny wouldn’t be able to interfere this way.

“C.C., what did you mean when you said that she’s your daughter? I wasn’t aware that you had any children,” Maxwell said, settling behind his desk. Honestly, with how C.C. tended to avoid even his children, he had thought that she disliked all children.

“Just what I said, Maxwell,” C.C. said, settling in her accustomed place on the green leather couch. “Do you recall the year I took off?”

“Yes, that was nearly…” Maxwell started, trailing off as the pieces came together. “Oh. So when you said you were going to take care of your elderly aunt to be assured of a place in her will…?”

“I was really staying at my grandmother’s house in the country,” C.C. admitted. “I needed the year off for the pregnancy, and to heal from it. Once I was healed and mostly back to my standard weight, then I returned with the story that my aunt had made a miraculous improvement and thus I’d wasted months taking care of her for no reason.”

“What happened to the girl? Was she really with her father all this time?” Maxwell asked, stunned. He couldn’t imagine having one of his children gone for a decade, not seeing them or even hearing from them, but maybe it was different for C.C.

“I didn’t want to neglect her, Maxwell, and I had my career to think about,” C.C. said, shrugging. “Her father is relinquishing custody, however, and he sent me the papers to do the same.”

“Ah, so she’s just staying with you until the paperwork is completed?”

“No,” C.C. said slowly. “Why would you assume that?”

“Well, come on, C.C. We’ve been working together for twenty years, and you’ve never been the maternal type. You can never even remember my children’s names, and you made at least five children cry during those Annie 2 auditions,” Maxwell pointed out. “I just assumed that you would be sending her away.”

C.C. just sat and stared at Maxwell. She had known Maxwell for twenty years, working her way up from underappreciated secretary to unacknowledged partner in the business. She had stood by him through missed opportunities with plays, terrible reviews, and Sara’s death. She worked hard daily to ensure that the company didn’t crash and burn while Maxwell did his part of the business.

Likewise, she had known Niles for twenty years, and the two of them had spent most of the time verbally sparring with each other. Most days, she wasn’t sure if they were enemies or good friends, either was entirely possible.

The difference between the two was that Niles, despite their rocky relationship, hadn’t doubted that she could take care of Cassandra, and had even helped her when she was overwhelmed, while Maxwell automatically assumed that she would be a poor parent and all but suggested that she give her daughter up.

Shakily, C.C. gathered up the papers she’d planned to work on today, putting them in her briefcase and standing. “I’ll see you later, Maxwell, I promised Cassandra that I would take her to the park.” She could work while the girl played.

“C.C.” Maxwell started, but she was out of the office before he could say anything else.

The dining room was empty, but C.C. followed the sound of voices to the kitchen. Niles and Cassandra were at the small table in the kitchen, Cassandra carefully laying a pie crust into a pie tin. Both she and Niles looked up at the sound of footsteps, though, and Cassandra beamed.

“Hi Mummy. Grace had to go get ready for school, so Niles said that he would teach me how to make a pie.”

“What flavor?” C.C. asked, still struggling to get Maxwell’s words out of her head.

“Banana cream,” Cassandra said, carefully trimming the edges of the crust as directed before adding the pie weights. “And he said he’ll teach me to make whipped cream myself too!”

“You like being here with him, don’t you?” C.C. asked. It was evident that she did, Niles was good with her and it was clear that she enjoyed the attention that these lessons gave her. Would any other family have someone like Niles to teach her?

Cassandra nodded as Niles took the crust and put it in the oven to bake. “I love living with you, Mummy. You talk to me, and Niles talks to me, and I get taught lots of interesting things…”

That was a rather disappointing list, it showed just how low Gerald had set the bar, but C.C. forced a smile. “Well, let’s add something else to that list, shall we? As soon as the pie is done, we can go to the park.”

She ignored Niles’ questioning look and settled at the table. She could do this, regardless of what Maxwell said. First things first, she would find a good school for Cassandra. Then maybe she could get a start on proving Maxwell wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

C.C. had every intention of keeping her promise to herself, to be a better parent for Cassandra than Gerald had been. She didn’t see it as an especially hard task, after all, Gerald had ignored her and left her to be cared for by nannies for all of her life up to that point. It should be easy to show her a bit of attention and make her feel wanted, and for the first few days, it was.

They went to the park every day for lunch, and C.C. took Cassandra to the Sheffield’s mansion and the theatre with her. She was able to occupy herself quite well with her books and things, and Chester was always able to be counted on to entertain her, he loved her and she swore that dog had never gone for more walks in his life than he had during those few days. Cassandra asked fairly intelligent questions about the theatre business, and C.C. answered when she could. If it was outside of her realm of experience, she pulled aside someone who could explain it and had them talk to her.

As time went on, C.C. started to go back to her usual routines. She would work for long hours, relying on the fact that Cassandra could entertain herself and keep an eye on Chester. Lunches in the park stopped all together, and breakfasts together tended to be something quick that C.C. could pick up on the way. Dinner was generally had at the manor, C.C. working while Cassandra helped Niles in the kitchen and then ate with him. She was still a bit wary of the Sheffields, she didn’t know them well enough to get on with them, so she spent most of her time following Niles around the house, helping out with his duties when he would let her and otherwise just talking to him.

As absorbed in her work as she was, C.C. still had enough sense to realize that Cassandra couldn’t be expected to miss school for very long. She decided, after a few moment’s thought on the drive to the theatre one morning, that she would enroll Cassandra in the same school that Maxwell’s children attended. Private school would be good for Cassandra, smaller class sizes, more individual attention, and quite a lot of activities she could join and thus keep her occupied. She sent someone to buy school supplies, including a uniform for Cassandra, and made sure that the girl had money for lunch before dropping her off and heading to work, making a detour to take Chester to the kennel.

She had neglected to ask what time Cassandra needed picked up, and the girl thought nothing of it, assuming that her mother knew what she was doing.

* * *

 

Cassandra looked around with wide eyes, standing on the school steps and looking around at the empty street. All of the other children had been picked up by now, even the ones who stayed later because of the after school programs. Her mother had promised she would be there, though, she’d said she would pick her up as soon as school was over. She’d promised that they would have something special for dinner to celebrate, just the two of them. As fun as spending time with Niles was, Cassandra had been looking forward to that all day. Her mother was always so busy, she didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her.

For a moment, she wondered if she’d been forgotten, if she should try to find her own way home, but Cassandra shook her head, setting her bag down and sitting down beside it. Her mother had promised she would be here, and she wasn’t going to wander off. She was probably just running late, that was all.

* * *

 

Niles was putting the finishing touches on the Sheffield’s dinner when he realized that Cassandra hadn’t been in to see him at all that day. The girl had mentioned that she was starting school, but surely it didn’t go as late as this. All three Sheffield children were at home, he’d given them their snacks nearly two hours ago. Cassandra’s portion was still waiting, the apple brown now with how long it had set out. He threw it away, leaving dinner to fend for itself for a moment as he headed to Maxwell’s office. The man himself wasn’t there, Niles remembered hearing Fran calling for him, but C.C. was there in her usual spot. There wasn’t any little blondes hanging about, however, and he didn’t see Chester anywhere.

Cassandra loved playing with the dog. If she were here, she would have asked Babcock to take her to pick him up from the kennel.

“Babcock, where is Cassandra? I prepared a snack for her, but she hasn’t been by the kitchen yet,” he said casually, hoping it was something as simple as the girl having made a friend and wanting to spend time with them after school instead of coming here.

“She’s at school, Niles, obviously,” C.C. drawled, not looking up from her papers. Everything that could go wrong with the play was going wrong, she was going to have to spend all day at the theatre tomorrow, without a doubt. “I’m sure I heard her tell you that she started school today.”

Niles looked at his watch, then at the woman on the couch. He turned and left the room, heading to the kitchen. He turned everything down, it would do well enough until he got back.

* * *

 

When Cassandra saw the car, she jumped up excitedly. It was getting dark and cold, and lunch seemed like it happened ages ago. “Mommy,” she called, hurrying down the steps and stopping dead when she realized who was in the car. “Niles? Where’s my mom? Is…is she okay?” She hadn’t gotten hurt, had she?

Niles’ heart broke when he saw how excited the girl was when she thought C.C. was there, and then how worried she was when she thought that something had happened to her. _Babcock, you don’t deserve this girl,_ Niles thought, sighing softly as he gestured for Cassandra to get in the car. “Cassandra…your mother is fine. She’s back at the Sheffield’s, in her customary position on the couch.”

Cassandra looked at him in confusion for a moment. “But if she’s not hurt, then why…?” Her face fell as she realized what had happened. “She forgot, didn’t she? She forgot to pick me up, about our special dinner, about spending time together…she forgot all of it.”

Niles couldn’t refute that, all he could do was hug the girl when she started to cry and mentally curse C.C. Babcock in a way he never had before. _When Cassandra has been seen to, Babcock, I am going to make sure you feel as terrible as this child does now._

Until that point, however, he just held her close and tried to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault and that there wasn’t anything wrong with her.


	8. Chapter 8

Niles got Cassandra settled at the small table in the kitchen with a mug of cocoa to warm her up before going to serve dinner to the Sheffields and Miss Fine. Babcock, he noticed, showed up when Maxwell did, sitting beside Margaret as she usually did when she stayed for dinner. Any way to be nearer to her boss, he thought disdainfully.

“Miss Babcock, where’s Cassandra?” Gracie asked, looking over at the blonde woman. “I wanted to talk to her after school today, but I couldn’t find her.”

C.C. had been talking to Maxwell about the changes that needed to be made to the show, but she paused at the question. The Little One was there, so were the Big One and the Boy. Maxwell likely wouldn’t have let all three of them skip school, and if the nanny had, Maxwell would have been furious with her. “Oh, she was tired and wanted to go back to the penthouse to rest. I should go and check on her, she had such a busy day.”

She forced herself to get up and walk away from the table casually, as though nothing was wrong, but as soon as she was out of the room, she ran for the door. The living room was empty, save for the butler, and she didn’t notice him until he moved in front of the door. “Get out of the way, Niles. I need to go.”

“And pick up Cassandra, three hours later than you were supposed to retrieve her?” Niles asked caustically, causing the blonde to stop her frantic rush to get her coat on. “I went to pick her up after I asked you where she was. She’s currently in the kitchen, drinking cocoa and eating dinner, and wondering why she means nothing to all of the adults who have charge of her.”

“She doesn’t-” C.C. started to protest, because she did care about Cassandra, somewhat. She hadn’t let herself consider how she felt about the girl for very long, using work as a distraction from thinking about the girl. And really, if she had been able to lose track of time and forget her for long enough that she didn’t even remember what time the girl needed picked up from school at, then her system was working too well.

“Babcock, if you want to keep this girl, you need to step up and take care of her properly,” Niles said, cutting her off because he didn’t want to hear her excuses. “If you cannot manage to do that, then you need to sign those papers and find someone else to care for her, because right now, you are behaving as abominably as her father did.”

Niles heard Miss Fine calling him, likely because she wanted seconds, and so without another word he turned and headed back into the dining room without another glance at C.C. As much as he had hated her at times over the years, he had never been more furious with C.C. than he was over this. She had taken the child in, played at motherhood for a matter of days, and then went back to her old ways nearly immediately.

 C.C., for her part, was furious with Niles. So she had forgotten the kid once, it wasn’t as though anything had happened to her. If it hadn’t been for Nanny Bobo, C.C. knew that she would have been forgotten at some point, her father had rarely been in the same house as her, let alone the same country. Still…she had broken a promise, so she would need to make up for it. Nodding to herself, C.C. grabbed her coat and headed out.

* * *

 

Two hours later, C.C. was back at the mansion, letting Chester down while she hung up her coat. Knowing how close the girl was to Niles, she decided to check the kitchen first.

Sure enough, Cassandra was sitting at the small table across from Niles, the pair eating dinner together now that the Sheffields were taken care of for the moment. Cassandra seemed to mostly be pushing her food around on her plate, unladylike behavior, but C.C. knew how to cure that sulking.

“Hello, hello,” she said, setting the bag down on the counter and drawing attention to herself. “Cassandra, I have something here to make up for what happened today. I think you’ll like it.”

“I’m not interested,” Cassandra said, not looking up from where she was pushing her meat around on her plate. C.C. was affronted.

“This is the most popular doll on the market!” she exclaimed, taking the newest version of Barbie doll out of the bag and showing it to her daughter. “All the little girls want one, I asked a salesperson to be certain.” She had stretched the truth a bit regarding why her daughter was getting not only a new doll, but also extra clothes and various other accessories for said doll, but she had been reassured that it was a popular toy among children her daughter’s age. “Evidently she is supposed to be able to be anything. A teacher, ballerina, business executive-”

“Unless she can be a mother, I don’t care,” Cassandra snapped, abandoning any pretense of eating as she got up and stormed over to C.C. “You promised that you would pick me up, that we would have dinner tonight, just the two of us. And you think that a toy is going to make up for you forgetting that? For putting business before me?”

Abruptly, C.C. remembered how she’d felt the first time her father had broken a promise. He had tried to bribe her for her forgiveness, and because C.C. had been a rather selfish child, it had worked. She had accepted the gift and the promise that it would never happen again. And she remembered how, sitting in her room later that night, the gift, expensive though it was, couldn’t erase the hurt that she wasn’t important to her father. That business came before everything else.

And now she was doing the same thing to Cassandra, trying to bribe her with a doll after having put work ahead of her daughter’s feelings. Now Niles’ anger made more sense, and she felt terrible. She had promised herself she would do better for Cassandra than her father had, and she had failed to meet even that incredibly low bar.

“Cassandra…” she started, not sure what to say, even where to begin with her apologies, but it was clear the girl wasn’t in the mood to listen.

“I’ll go play with my new doll, Ms. Babcock,” Cassandra said, scowling. “So you can get back to the most important thing in the world to you.”

She grabbed the doll and the bag and headed up the back stairs, likely going to find Grace, C.C. supposed.

“I hope you’re happy, Babcock,” Niles said, retrieving Cassandra’s plate as well as his own as he began to tidy up the kitchen. “Do you know how worried she was when she thought something had happened to you? And how hurt she was to realize that you placed work before her?”

“I do now,” C.C. admitted, sinking into one of the chairs and putting her head in her hands. “I just don’t know how to fix it.” How to change the habits of more than a decade, how to apologize, and how to show Cassandra that she was more important than work.

How to get her daughter back.


End file.
